Dustless road.



PATENTED JUNE 28', 1904.

J. R. BARR &: J. REES.

DUSTLESS ROAD.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

WW p. W.

UNITED STATES Patented June 28, 1904.

JAMES R. BARR AND JOHN REES, BRAZIL, INDIANA.

DUSTLESS ROAD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Le e Patent No. 763,457, dated June as,1904.

Application filed September 4, 1903. Serial No. 172,019. (No model.)

To (ti/Z whom, it Hen/y concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMES R. BARR and JOHN Runs, citizens of the UnitedStates, residing at Brazil, in the county of Clay and State of Indiana,have invented new and useful Improvements in Dustless Roads, of whichthe following is a specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in dustless roads,and is especially adapted for use as railway-beds in mines and otherplaces where the production of dust renders explosions imminent.

The object of the invention is to produce a road-bed of inexpensiveconstruction which prevents the accumulation of dust. Heretofore thecontinual movement of draft-animals over'tlie track at themain entry toa mine has resulted in the cutting of the road-bed into minute particlesand forming a thick dust. Our invention consists in forming the roadbedof material which will prevent this dust formation and which will absorbany coaldust which may be deposited upon it.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown the preferred form of ourinvention.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the road at the main entryof a mine, and Fig. 2 is a section therethrough.

In the formation of our improved road the ties 1 are first laid upon theroad-bed 2 and the tracks 3 placed thereon. Subsequent to this operationfire-clay 4 is tamped between the ties and rails, and this clay is keptmoist by sprinkling water thereon at desired intervals. It will beunderstood that the passage of the draft-animals over the fire-clay willnot result in the formation of dust, as the clay is kept moist at alltimes, and, moreover, should any coal-dust be dropped upon the clay itwould be absorbed thereby and prevented from commingling with theatmosphere.

The advantages accruing from the employment of fire-clay as a road-bedare that fireelay is, first, refractory, and therefore cannot even inthe presence of combustible material become inflammable; second, it is anon-absorbent of moisture, and therefore will not cause warping of theties of a railway-bed, which would inevitably result from ordinary clayor sand. Furthermore, it is a concrete material that is to say, thenatural tendency of its molecules is to adhere together tenaciously andwith such cohesion as to preclude any entrance of moistureand, third,fireclay from its inherent properties of refractoriness and cohesivenessis not affected by heat or coldthat is to say, it is not responsive toexpansion or contraction to any appreciable extent, so that road-bedsmade of fireclay will not cause any displacement of the ties orsleepers, as by expansion in warm Weather and contraction in coldweather.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

A railroad-bed for coal or other mines constructed 'to prevent explosionin the mines, said bed comprising fire-clay interposed between thesleepers or ties and also between the railroad-rails, substantially asspecified.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES R. BARR. JOHN REES.

